July 20, 1935: City's shadowy past

Sun Sentinel Archives

The July 20, 1935 front page is a flashback to a grim part of Florida history. The top story reads "Coroner's Inquest Clears Sheriff's Office of Blame In Lynching of Negro Here". According to initial reports of Rubin Stacy's murder, a mob of masked men took Stacy, a tenant farmer, from the custody of six sheriff's deputies who were transporting him to the Dade County jail in Miami. The mob hanged Stacy from a tree in Fort Lauderdale near the home of Marion Jones, a 30-year-old white woman who had accused him of assaulting her with a knife. Jones later reported that Stacy came to her door begging for food. Eyewitness accounts also later revealed that the killing was organized by deputies.

The July 20, 1935 front page is a flashback to a grim part of Florida history. The top story reads "Coroner's Inquest Clears Sheriff's Office of Blame In Lynching of Negro Here". According to initial reports of Rubin Stacy's murder, a mob of masked men took Stacy, a tenant farmer, from the custody of six sheriff's deputies who were transporting him to the Dade County jail in Miami. The mob hanged Stacy from a tree in Fort Lauderdale near the home of Marion Jones, a 30-year-old white woman who had accused him of assaulting her with a knife. Jones later reported that Stacy came to her door begging for food. Eyewitness accounts also later revealed that the killing was organized by deputies. (Sun Sentinel Archives)

The July 20, 1935 front page is a flashback to a grim part of Florida history. The top story reads "Coroner's Inquest Clears Sheriff's Office of Blame In Lynching of Negro Here". According to initial reports of Rubin Stacy's murder, a mob of masked men took Stacy, a tenant farmer, from the custody of six sheriff's deputies who were transporting him to the Dade County jail in Miami. The mob hanged Stacy from a tree in Fort Lauderdale near the home of Marion Jones, a 30-year-old white woman who had accused him of assaulting her with a knife. Jones later reported that Stacy came to her door begging for food. Eyewitness accounts also later revealed that the killing was organized by deputies.